A Ghostly Return
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Can Generation X help a ghost avenge his death before it is forever too late? Sequel to the author's Generation X vs. the Haunted House.


Title: "A Ghostly Return"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Rating: PG-13  
Spoilers: The author's "Generation X vs. the Haunted House"  
Summary: Can Generation X help a ghost avenge his death before it is forever too late?  
Disclaimer: Monet "M" St. Croix, Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee, Paige "Husk" Guthrie, Sean "Banshee" Cassidy, Emma "White Queen" Frost, Jonothon "Chamber" Starsmore, Angelo "Skin" Espinosa, Everett "Synch" Thomas, and Generation X are © & TM Marvel comics. Everything else is © & TM Pirate Turner. The author makes absolutely no profit from this story.

It was a cool Fall day, and Generation X was actually at school. It was fifth period, and all the students were at P.E. The girls were doing some exercises and talking while the boys played football.

The wind suddenly brought a strange, ghost-like moan to the girls. "What was that?" Monet asked, her brown eyes darting around.

"What was what?" Paige apparently had not heard the moan.

"I dunno," Jubilee replied hesitantly, "but I heard it too."

"What are you two talkin' 'bout?" Paige demanded.

A red car passed down the street before the school. "That's the third time that one car has passed up and down that same road," declared Paige, pointing at the car as it drove away again.

"Yeah," said Jubilee. "So what, Hayseed?"

"So somethin' must be up," announced Paige. "Ah dunno what y'all are gonna do, but Ah'm gonna go check it out." Paige ran off in the direction the car had gone.

Jubilee looked at Monet who returned her gaze. Without saying a word, the duo started off in the direction the moan had came from -- toward the Danger Grotto.

* * *

Reaching the Danger Grotto, Jubilee and M began their search. They looked everywhere they could think of -- up and down; right and left; North and South; East and West; behind bushes and trees; and in countless other places. Tired, they finally stopped searching. Monet leaned against a tree as Jubilee plopped unceremoniously down upon her bum on the ground. Jubilee sighed in frustration.

Unexpectedly, a light flickered on and off. Both girls snapped instantly back to attention, their wide eyes immediately zeroing in on the light. "M, you seein' -- " Jubilee started to whisper but fell silent as she caught Monet's confirming nod.

The light flickered on and off two more times, and then a ghost appeared right before the girls' very eyes. "Jjjuuuuubbbiiillleeeee . . ." the ghost moaned eerily. "Mmmooooonnneeettttt . . . "

Monet screamed, but Jubilee only gasped. Both girls attempted to get up and run, but they couldn't. They were frozen to the spot!

The ghost advanced toward the girls slowly. They struggled to break free from the trance they seemed to have fallen into but could not budge a single muscle. "Do not fear," Monet spoke, struggling to keep her voice calm. "It can't harm us. It is merely a mythological creature."

"Oh, yeah, right, M! Like the ghost we discovered on Halloween last time?" protested Jubilee, referring to the previous year's Halloween night where the entire team had dared one another to spend the night in a haunted house. Some had believed the tales, but others had thought them to be nothing but stories. Long before the night's end, however, they had all felt the touch of the angry ghosts in the old mansion.

"Well, you do have a po --" Monet was cut off by maniacal laughter from the ghost. Fearfully, she looked at Jubilee. "That laugh . . ."

"That's right, little girl! I'm the same ghost you met last Halloween!" announced the ghost.

"No . . . " whispered Monet.

"Oh, yes, I am!" persisted the ghost.

"What do you want from us?" Jubilee demanded.

"Only your bodies," replied the ghost.

"Why?" Monet questioned.

"So that I may return to the World of the Living."

"Why do you wanna come back?" Why did I ask? Jubilee asked herself even as the question left her mouth. I know I'll regret it! Oh, well, it's too late now!

"So I can get revenge on my killer." The ghost laughed again.

"Yer'll only need one body fer that," said a voice behind him with a country accent. "Take M. She's the perfect one!"

The ghost turned around only to see Paige Guthrie. "Ah, but you see, I must also dispose of those who know too much and may try to foil my plans for my revenge!"

"Well, then, ye'll have tae get through me tae get the lasses." Banshee appeared from the air and landed between Husk and the ghost.

"And me." The ghost whirled back around to see who had spoken. The White Queen blocked his path to M and Jubilee.

"As well as us, mate," an English accent informed him as Chamber, Skin, and Synch stepped out of the trees' shadows.

The ghost began to worry that disposing of Generation X would not be as easy a task as he had first thought it would be.

"Be gone," commanded the White Queen. "Your so-called power holds no fear for Generation X! Leave now, and there will be no grudges held! Remain, and die again! Your choice. Which do you choose? Speak now or forever hold your peace!"

Meekly, the ghost looked at Emma and the rest of the surrounding mutants. "But . . . "

"No but's!" Emma snapped icily.

"Why hold a grudge beyond the grave?" asked Monet. "Why do you not rest in peace and join your deceased beloved ones?"

"Because I can't," replied the ghost.

"Why can't ya?" inquired Husk.

"Because my body was not properly buried. It was not even found. I must get my killer to tell the police that he killed me and show them my body!" answered the ghost.

"Who killed ya?" Jubilee inquired. "Why? Where's yer body?"

"My killer goes by the name of Ice. He killed me to keep me from telling the police what he was doing -- selling drugs and performing experiments on living people. My body is hidden in a freezer in his basement," the ghost answered.

"Euuw! Gross!" Jubilee exclaimed.

"That's absolutely disgusting!" Paige agreed.

"So you can't even be with those you love in the afterlife?" Synch interjected.

"That's jest . . . " Chamber searched for a word but came up short.

"Wrong," Skin finished simply for his friend.

"There must be something we can do to put you to rest peacefully!" cried Monet.

"There is one thing that might work," the ghost replied.

"What is it?" inquired Emma.

"If we could get the body and your people could bury it and have an actual burial, it just might work," said the ghost.

"It's worth a shot!" Paige exclaimed.

"I'm game," declared Jubilee.

"Count me in," Monet agreed.

One by one, all the members of Generation X agreed to try it that very night.

* * *

"He's gone," Jubilee whispered.

"Let's go," directed Emma.

Generation X came out of their hiding places and ran across the street. When they reached the door, Emma tried the handle. "Locked," she muttered softly.

"Move aside, lass," Sean whispered.

"We can not afford to make a scene, Sean," Emma warned, her voice low but with a hint of deadliness, although she took two steps back.

He slid in before her and bent to where his lips were barely two inches away from the knob. Focusing a tiny sonic scream, Banshee blew the lock to pieces. Straightening once more, he turned back to Emma. His Irish eyes danced with mischief, and her lips trembled as she fought back a smile. "'Twas nae plannin' on makin' one, lass," he said with a mischevious grin. Falling somber once more, he turned back to the door, opened it quietly, and walked in on silent, booted feet. The rest of Generation X followed after him.

"I can't see a thing," Synch complained.

Jubilee shot some fireworks from her fingers. "There," she whispered back. "That better?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Jubes."

The group went down to the basement. M tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. Her right hand balled into a fist, and she struck the door. It swung open. Jubilee shot some fireworks ahead into the pitch dark of the basement.

The group filed into the basement. Emma performed a telepathic scan to make certain they were alone as the team set out in search for the freezer. They quickly found it, but none came directly to it. Instead, they hesitated, looking at it. "Who wants to do the honors?" Husk finally asked.

"It's more like _dis_honors," Jubilee commented, hinting at what they were all thinking. Even M nodded in agreement.

Synch squared his shoulders. "I'll do it." He walked to the freezer and carefully lifted the lid.

An awful smell drafted up out of the freezer. M, Husk, and the White Queen waved their hands in front of their faces in an attempt to wave the stench away while Jubilee and Skin held their noses. Even Banshee couldn't help making a disgusted face at the horrid stench that assaulted them. Synch, who had been hit full in the face by the terrible stench of rotten flesh, could not help stumbling back, but M strengthened her stomach, bravely walked forward, and peered into the freezer. "The freezer's not working," she mused aloud, her brown eyes scanning the freezer's contents for the bags of body parts.

"Well, that's certainly an understatement, lassie," Sean muttered before he could stop himself.

"Well? Are the body parts in there?" Skin asked impatiently.

"What else could be stinkin' up that da--" Paige hesitated, glancing at her headmasters, and then finished, "bad?"

M nodded. "They most certainly are here." She glanced to Jubilee. "The bag?"

Jubilee brought out a large, black trash bag from one of the deep pockets of her trench coat. She opened it up and held it for her team mate. M looked back at the gruesome body parts in the freezer. She reached out for them but hesitated. She simply could not bring herself to touch the disgusting things. "Does some one else wish to do this?" she offered hopefully.

Angelo rolled his eyes. "Move out of the way, chica," he commanded, and she hastened to obey. "Just like a senorita. You can stand just about anything _except_ getting your pretty little hands dirty," he muttered as he took her place at the freezer. "Somebody help Jubilee hold that bag open."

Synch helped Jubilee with the bag. Skin slowly and carefully took ziplock bags which held the body parts out of the freezer and dropped them into the bag. Each bag oozed blood and slime, causing each mutant's stomach to churn even more. Chamber joined Skin in emptying the freezer of the body parts, glad, for once, that he did not have to eat for if he did, whatever he would have eaten that day would have already been on the basement's dirty floor.

Unexpectedly, car lights shone on the house. The team heard an engine turn off, and the lights vanished. A car door slammed. Somebody was walking up to the house!

"Who is it?" whispered Paige.

Quickly, the White Queen performed a telepathic scan. Her ice blue eyes flung open. "We must hurry. It's him."

"Him who?" asked Jubilee. "The killer or the ghost?"

"The killer," Emma answered. "Banshee and Husk, give the boys a hand. M, stand guard." She joined Banshee, Husk, Skin, and Chamber in hurriedly emptying the remnants of the body parts into the bag.

When they were finished, Chamber tied the bag close and swung it over his shoulder. "Let's gi. Em, ye take the front while I bring up the back. Chamber, get in the middle wit' the bag." The team managed to get out of the building and away before the killer could find out that they were there.

* * *

The team had just reached Sean's jeep and were beginning to pile in when Everett spoke. "Hey! I just realized something! According to that old legend, the ghost killed himself. Yet here we are -- stealing his body parts out of his killer's freezer. That killer is still alive. If the ghost killed himself, how did his body parts get in the freezer, and how is his killer still alive while he's dead?"

"Well, duh, Ev," Jubilee snapped. "Ever hear of makin' up a story to tell the cops in order to hide the truth? Hello!" She rolled her eyes and shook her head in disbelief.

A light flickered on and off twice, and the ghost appeared. "Actually, your friend does raise a valid question, young Jubilee." Jubilee fixed the spectre with a Look. "It was indeed all a lie, but it was to hide a great deal more. If you recall, the legend claims that I went mad after killing my family. I did lose my job and everybody I loved -- my wife, my children, even my pets. He killed them all as well as me. He made it look as if I killed them, but I could have never hurt them. My wife and oldest daughter did go to the police, but not because of me. Because of him -- Tony MacDonald. The police did not believe them for MacDonald was a highly respectable man in society even though he was also known as Ice out on the streets."

"But how'd your body parts get in his freezer?" Husk questioned. "Ah thought the police got them."

"The police did get them. As I said before, MacDonald was a highly respectable man in society. Therefore, he could get in anywhere and everywhere, and he had low friends in high places."

"So he broke in and stole your body?" Everett surmised.

"Yes."

"But why?" asked Angelo.

"He was afraid the police would find out he killed me."

Okay. I understand most o' why the legend is the way it is, but what about you jumping off the roof o' your house? inquired Jonothon.

"He pushed me off."

"Ya said earlier that he knew ya knew too much 'bout what he was doin' -- sellin' drugs an' all that --, but how'd ya know 'bout it all?" Jubilee questioned.

"He was my boss," the ghost continued to explain. "I was his secretary and worked in the office. Due to that, I had access to all his personal meetings and everything. One day, I almost walked in on one of his meetings with a drug addict. From then on, I started eavesdropping on all of his meetings. One day, he caught me. Does that answer your question, Jubilee?"

"Yeah."

"Do ya need us ta bury your body anywhere in particular?" Paige asked.

"Yes."

"Where?"

"In the clearing in the middle of the forest behind my old house."

"Let's get giing then, lads and lasses!" Banshee barked as he hopped into his jeep.

* * *

Banshee parked the jeep in the clearing. The team jumped out. Banshee grabbed two shovels and handed one to Chamber. With Chamber following him, Banshee then walked to the middle of the clearing and began digging. It was hot and tiring work, but the two finally finished digging the grave. "Skin," Banshee called, "bring us the bag."

Skin grasped the bag but found it was too heavy for him to pull it alone. "Allow me," M spoke up as she easily lifted the bag and flew it to the grave.

Skin watched her, shaking his head and making a small noise in the back of his throat. "Chicks," he muttered. "They don't mind touching a trash bag with body parts in it, but they won't touch a ziplock bag with body parts in it. Go figure."

Jubilee couldn't help a small giggle at her friend's words. "That's M for ya."

As Banshee and Chamber leapt out of the grave, M dropped the bag smoothly into the hole they had dug. Banshee and Chamber turned to begin shoveling the dirt onto the bag, but M's voice stopped them. "Wait!"

Chamber dropped his shovel in tired frustration. What is it, Monet?

"Should there not be a prayer?"

"Aye, ye are correct, M," replied Sean. "We have tae set his spirit tae rest. Come down here, an' ye all gather 'round."

The team gathered around the grave. In unison, they held hands and bowed their heads in thought. Sean prayed aloud over the grave, struggling a bit to find the right words while secretly hoping that he was doing at least a fair job. "Amen," he said in closing, and each head lifted back up.

Now can we get on with it? Chamber asked impatiently.

"Well, who've ever thought that Jono could get grouchy?" Jubilee spoke up, trying to ease the tension in the air, but only receiving a few glares for her effort.

While Banshee and Chamber covered the bag in the dirt they had previously dug, Skin and Synch worked together to create a simple cross out of two tree limbs. Jubilee, meanwhile, found a wooden slab and concentrated her fireworks on digging particular holes into it.

When the grave was sealed once more, Skin solemnly stuck the cross into the top of the grave. Jubilee walked forward and laid the slab onto the grave. Her team mates were surprised and both headmasters were secretly proud to see that she had found a new use for her fireworks for as the first ray of the rising sun set upon the slab, they could read:

HERE LAYS JAKE SAMUELS  
TO REST IN PEACE  
AT LONG LAST  
AND TO JOIN HIS  
BELOVED FAMILY AND PETS  
AFTER ROAMING THE EARTH  
FOR YEARS  
AS A LOST SOUL.

The plan worked. Jake could at last rest in peace and join his loved ones. As one, the team turned and began to walk, heading toward the rising sun.

"Ttthhhaaaaannnkkk yyyooooouuuuu!" the wind howled a message to the team. They all turned around and smiled.

"You're welcome."

"Rest in peace."

"Good-bye."

"Adios, amigo."

"Farewell."

The team turned back around and headed back to Sean's jeep. They climbed in and drove away in the first golden rays of the rising sun.

**The End**


End file.
